Home Run Derby 2019 as it happened: Pete Alonso outlasts Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in all-rookie final

CLEVELAND — In one of the wildest Home Run Derbies of all time, Pete Alonso beat out fellow rookie Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to win the crown at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

Alonso beat hometown favorite Carlos Santana in the first round and then Atlanta's Ronald Acuña Jr. in the semis.

In the first round Guerrero set a record for homers in a single round, going deep 29 times to beat Matt Chapman. In the semifinals, Guerrero tied his own record but Joc Pederson did the same and it took three tiebreakers to separate the two. For the night, Guerrero ended up slugging 91 homers. 

"That was a blast. Oh my God, that was a blast," Alonso said during a postgame interview after his win. "I'm gonna remember that for the rest of my life."

By winning the event, Alonso wins  $1 million bonus which will supplement his base salary of $555,000. 

MLB SALARIES: Baseball's top 25 highest-paid players in 2024

Alonso also becomes the third rookie to win the Home Run Derby -- co-champ Wally Joyner in 1986 and Aaron Judge in 2017.

Here's how everything unfolded Tuesday night in Cleveland

Final

No. 2 Pete Alonso vs. No. 8 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

• Guerrero – 22 HR – longest 463 feet: Even after all those extra swings in the semifinal tiebreakers, Guerrero continued to crush in the final. After finishing regular time with 20 homers, he added two more in bonus time. He finishes the night with 91 home runs. It's up to Alonso now ...
• Alonso – 23 HR – longest 459 feet: Alonso kept shooting for the deepest parts of the park but he made it work. Walked it off with a bomb with 20 seconds left

Semifinals

No. 2 Pete Alonso defeats No. 6 Ronald Acuña Jr. 

• Acuña Jr. – 19 HR – longest 469 feet: Everything feels like a letdown after that last round, but Acuña picked up right where he left off, finishing with 19, but only one in the bonus time.
• Alonso – 20 HR – longest 467 feet: It didn't look like Alonso had it tonight, but all os a sudden he turned it on. Consistently going to the deepest parts of the park, the ball started to find its way over the fence and he hit walk-off No. 20 as time expired. We've got an all-rookie final.

No. 8 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. defeats No. 5 Joc Pederson

• Guerrero – 29 HR – longest 468 feet: Guerrero did it again, tying the single-round record that he had set about 15 minutes earlier. Wow.
• Pederson – 29 HR – longest 450 feet: It looked like he had run out of gas in the final minute, but got on a roll near the end of regulation time and hit his 27th as the clock ran out. In bonus time, he hit two more and came up just short of a walk-off as time expired. We've got a tie.
• Tiebreaker (one minute) – Guerrero 8, Pederson 8: Guerrero homered on his first three swings and finished with eight, but Pederson rallied back with eight of his own. This is awesome.
• Double-tiebreaker (three swings) – Guerrero 1, Pederson 1: Guerrero went long on his first swing but couldn't do it again. After taking a couple of pitches, Pederson homered to center on his first swing but hit a fly ball and then a foul line drive.
• Triple-tiebreaker(!!!) – Guerrero 2, Pederson 1: Guerrero dug deep and left the park with his first two swings, and while Pederson homered on his first swing, he came up short on his last two. Standing ovation from the crowd as the pair hug it out. That was unbelievable.

First round

No. 2 Pete Alonso defeats No. 7 Carlos Santana

• Santana – 13 HR – longest 463 feet: The hometown crowd went wild when he stepped to the plate but Santana struggled out of the gate, failing to homer in the first 55 seconds of his round. He had a nice run with about 90 seconds left.
• Alonso – 14 HR – longest 466 feet: The Mets rookie got a hard time from the Santana-wild fans and had just six homers when he took a break with 1:44 left. He rallied in the final final and managed walked it off with his 14th homer with one second left on the clock.

No. 6 Ronald Acuña Jr. defeats No. 3 Josh Bell

• Acuña Jr. – 25 HR – longest 469 feet: The 21-year-old's smooth swing translated into Derby success, driving the ball over the fence to all fields. After that showing, he may be a real sleeper here tonight.
• Bell – 18 HR – longest 459 feet: One of the favorites coming in, the Pirates slugger just couldn't get into a real groove. A great performance that included some impressive drives to center, but it just wasn't enough to catch Acuña.

No. 8 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. defeats No. 1 Matt Chapman

• Guerrero Jr. – 29 HR – longest 476 feet: The 20-year-old didn't disappoint, putting on an absolute show. He hit some absolute moonshots over the wall in left, sending the crowd into a frenzy. Vlad Jr. added six(!) more in the 30 seconds of bonus time. His 29 homers set the record for most in a single round.
• Chapman – 13 HR – longest 477 feet: A decent round by all accounts, but there was no way the Oakland star was going to catch Guerrero. 

No. 5 Joc Pederson defeats No. 4 Alex Bregman

• Pederson – 21 HR – longest 452 feet: Took him a few minutes to find a rhythm but after taking a break, he started punishing balls into the right-field seats. Pederson earned bonus time and added more four homers in the extra 30 seconds. Quite a showing from the Dodger to start things off.
• Bregman – 15 HR – longest 417 feet:  It's a tough ballpark for right-handed hitters with the big wall in left, and Bregman found out the hard way. He got hot with about 90 seconds left, but just couldn't keep it going to catch Pederson.

Sign in to your account